Thursday, January 15, 2009

Tomorrow afternoon, I will be heading to Washington DC to take part in the inauguration of President Barack Obama!

While in DC, I will also participate in a day of national service in honor of Martin Luther King and the service movement, on MLK. I encourage you to find ways you can take some time to serve in your community on Monday and be part of this exciting day of service. Make it a day on, not a day off!

While at the inauguration, I will be taking notes and pictures for an essay I intend to write in reflection of the events when I return. I will post this alongside the essay I wrote in 2005, the year I went to Washington to protest President Bush's inauguration. I will really be coming full circle with this trip, and I couldn't be happier or more excited.

Monday, January 12, 2009

The answer to this terrible question - why do they hate us? - begins with the children. In much of the Palestinian Territories, children are taught from a young age to hate and want to destroy Jews. Hatred for Jews is institutionalized in textbooks, in classrooms, and on children's television. Take a look at these disturbing videos, and you will get a glimpse into the source of the hatred of Hamas.

Here is their famous "Mickey Mouse" character. This program indoctrinates children into believing Muslims must "rule the world" and advocates the "annihilation of the Jews."

Friday, January 09, 2009

Many have criticized Israel's recent actions in Gaza, yet few understand the context of the military action. Here, in clear and verifiable print, are some of the key numbers from this conflict. They help to put into context the unrelenting rocket attacks directed deliberately at Israeli citizens even during the recent "cease fire," and underscore the efforts Israel has taken in good faith to give Gazans land for peace.

9,400+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2003. [1]3,200+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in 2008 alone. [2]6,500+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. [3]543+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israeli territory during the ceasefire from June 19 to Dec. 19, 2008. [4]28 deaths caused by rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001. The dead include Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire ended, Iran-backed Palestinian groups in Gaza fired rockets and mortars that killed an Israeli-Arab construction worker and a mother of four who was seeking shelter in a bus station as a rocket warning siren sounded. [5]1,000+ people in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire, 44 Israelis have been injured and 200 have been treated for shock. [6]20,000 Hamas troops Israel is targeting as part of “Operation Cast Lead.” [7]750,000 number of Israeli civilians Hamas is targeting and can reach. [8]15 seconds Israelis have to get to a bomb shelter once a warning siren has sounded. [9]8 years that Israel has been hit by rockets and mortars from Gaza [10]3 mosques in Gaza used as weapons, ammunitions and explosives depots that were struck by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the operation in Gaza. [11]4 UN Security Council resolutions passed since 2006 to try to stop Iran from enriching uranium. [12]5,000+ number of centrifuges operating in Iran to enrich uranium, the material used to produce a nuclear weapon. [13]

Israel's Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

179 truckloads of humanitarian aid that have been delivered through Israeli crossings into Gaza since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, including basic food commodities, medication, medical supplies, donations of governments and blood units.106 additional truckloads of humanitarian expected to arrive in Gaza on Jan. 31 [14]6,500 tons of aid transported into Gaza at the request of international organizations, the Palestinian Authority and various governments since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead. The World Food Program informed Israel that it will cease shipment of food to Gaza because warehouses are at full capacity, with enough food to last two weeks. [15]

What Israel Gave Up in Hopes of Peace - Gaza Withdrawal August 2005

100% proportion of the Gaza Strip evacuated and handed over to thePalestinians. [16]300 square miles of the West Bank evacuated. [17]21 Israeli settlements uprooted in the Gaza Strip. [18]4 Israeli settlements uprooted in the West Bank. [19]48 graves uprooted in Gaza’s former Gush Katif Cemetery, including six graves of area residents murdered by terrorists. [20]9,000 approximate number of Israelis, including 1,700 families, who lived in Gaza and the northern West Bank. All of them were moved out as part of the withdrawal. [21]38 synagogues dismantled in the Gaza Strip. [22]5,000 school-age children who had to find new schools. [23]42 daycare centers that were closed in the Gaza Strip. [24]36 kindergartens that were closed in the Gaza Strip. [25]7 elementary schools that were closed in the Gaza Strip. [26]3 high schools that were closed in the Gaza Strip. [27]320 mobile homes, ordered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to serve as temporary housing for settlers. [28]45,000 Israeli soldiers and policemen who participated in the Gaza withdrawal. [29]$1.7 billion the approximate cost to the Israeli government for the withdrawal initiative. [30]166 Israeli farmers who were moved out of Gaza. [31]800 cows, which comprised the second largest dairy farm in Israel, moved out of Gaza’s Gush Katif community. [32]$120 million value of flowers and produce exported annually from Gush Katif and lost following the evacuation. [33]1 zoo, the “Katifari,” that housed hundreds of animals and was moved. [34]10,000 people who were employed in agriculture and related industries in Gush Katif, including 5,000 Palestinians. [35]60% proportion of Israel's cherry tomato exports that came from the Gaza Strip. Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza extinguished this economic resource. [36]3.5 million square meters (almost 1,000 acres) of greenhouses abandoned in Gaza. [37]70 percentage of Israel's organic produce grown in Gaza – another economic resource lost in the evacuation. [38]60 percentage of herbs exported from Israel that came from Gush Katif. [39]15 percentage of Israel agricultural exports that originated in Gaza – exports lost following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. [40]$360,000 expected average compensation amount Israel expected to pay to relocate each family. [41]$870 million approximate cost for Israel to facilitate the resettlement of former West Bank and Gaza residents elsewhere in the country. [42]$500 million amount of money Israel's security establishment spent to relocate Israel Defense Forces bases outside the Gaza Strip and build new border crossing facilities. [43]After Israel’s evacuation from Gaza…430,000 West Bank Palestinians able to move freely within and between Palestinian-controlled areas. [44]1 Israeli remaining in Gaza. Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit was abducted from Israel on June 25, 2006 by Hamas in a bloody cross-border raid in which the terrorists also killed two IDF soldiers and wounded four others. [45]1.2 million Arabs who remained full and legal citizens of Israel. All Israeli citizens – Christians, Muslims, and Jews – have freedom of speech, religion, press, and the right to vote. [46]1.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip many of them in Palestinian Authority-controlled refugee camps, who live under their own leaders. [47]820,000 Jewish refugees forced to flee without their belongings from Arab countries between 1947 and 1949, and who have never been compensated by Arab governments for their losses. [48]650,000 Arab refugees who left Israel from 1947-1949 and still need Palestinian leaders who will end terrorism and the culture of hate. [49]

Rockets and Mortars Fired From Gaza During the "Cease Fire" - June to December 2008

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About Me

am a licensed attorney in the state of Florida, with a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Brandeis University. I am concerned about social justice, the environment, and politics. I hope my readers will find informed, critical posts that will help you make reasoned judgments about the important issues facing our world. I also publish occasional original poetry and essays.